Device for use in connection with the articulation of artificial teeth.



G. W. CLAPI & E. S. ULSAVER.

DEVICE FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ARTIGULATION OF ARTIFICIAL TEETH.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4.1913.

1,079,540. Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

i To all 11:71 om may concern:

Be it known that we, mouse WY, CL-wr citizens of the l with the teeth ofthe other jaw, it is necesteet-hon the rubber ums Q 1 I or support inthe arti-culato to insure the pro jcr level-or posttiou 9..-

. relatively work in an merit of the jaw,

occupy, teeth are to tures, said plate ,inost desirable to insure actionof the :teeth when set up complete in UNITED STATES PATENT orrion.

GEORGE WOOD CLAPP DEVICE FOR USE IN CONNECTiON WITH TH and ERVIN' i..United States, and residents of New Re chelle,county of lVestchcstcr,andState of New York, have invented an Improvement in Devices. for Use inConnection with the Articulation of Artificial Teeth, of which thefollowing is a spec fication.

The object of our invention is to provide artificial plates tobe used inthe act of c king dentures as a" guide iusettiug up e artificial tcethuponthe plate'which his the such artificialplates acting asa floorULsAvnu,

the occlusal or grinding edges or surfaces of the teeth when beingpositioned on the rubber late.

The common assumption is, t at the teeth of the upper and lower setsmay-be made to up and down movebutthis-is not natural and is not,'in thetrue sense, effective in masticating toodto fit itfor digestion, Toenable the teeth of, one jaw to function properly sary to havecontacting portions of the teeth soset thata side or grinding-,motionmay be had by the jaw, without the-teeth interlocking to prevent suchmovement, or hc coniing-soiseparated during the side un veinentthattheirv grinding eihcieucyis reduced or lost. It is ditlicultto set theteeth to insure thisproper functioning in nastu-ution,

and it is to facilitate such arranging of the plates which fit the gums,that our improved artificialjpla'te is intend-- ed. The upper surface ofsaid plate'hein'g so shaped as to correspond to the positions which thecusps of; the upper teeth should when both upper and ll; J8! be made,the lower teeth I then he placed in right relations to the upper teeth,and both sets will then etlectii'ely co operate in grinding tooth ablyof, U'sl'ia'ped construction, adapted to be used in an articulator whenmaking denhaving exposed curved surfaceswhich co nform to the curvaturesfound the best grinding Qur invention consists ofa plate, prefer-l saidin -*.lination being,

the rubber plate for use in the inouthi" Our artificial plate is formedwith predetermined curved surfaces'by tests I Specification of LettersPatent.-

, s."iu effect, a reverse curve,

uig thebl-ending ofi the two "endsf0f' 12.

upon separate skulls, l allows the upper central teethiowextend ANDERVXN S. ULSAVER, OF NEW! ROCHELLE, NEW YORK.

E ARTICULATION OF ARTIFIGIAL TEETH Patented Nov. 25, 1913.Applicatiqnfiled April 4,1913. ScrialNo.758,745.

from which curves are prepared and thelaw of averages determined.

Our invention will be better understood hv reference to the drawings, inwhich: Figure l is a iierspective view illustrating, our improvedartificialplate separated from the articulator', Fig. 2 is a lan' v ewof the same; Fig. 3 is a front e e view;

and Fig. l is a side edge viewof the sarpe';

and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the artichlflater with our irnprovedartificial plate in p as used in sett ng upfthe artific al positionteeth A I a 5 andfi arethe txvo parts of the usual ticulator whijelriisemployed in setting up dentures. Arouncl the base portion' fi jbuilttupthefounclation land around the upper part 6, compositions f ofthese'foundations heing usually of, plaster of Paris and warn As .ployed inthe act of making a denture, in whiclrthe teeth 9 for the rubber late 8of the upper jaw are being set up; an operation, our improved spend tothe occlusal or grinding surfaces of theupper teeth or the jaw,the uppersurfaces of said plate having'special curvatures to be later described}The said artificial plate may also he provided with projecting teeth orpumps 3 by which it may betas tuned on the wax or other foundation-n'lhe artilicial plate 2 is preferably 'of ductile metal and ofU-shapeiin plan, as shown in F 1 and 2, and has its: operis built thefoundation T tlieiuwhich' I I artificial )l-ate'2 is arranged inposition which won d "'corre-.

. shown in Fig. '0, the articulator sb'e ng'em ative Slll'ftlCGfOllUtldwith curvaturesflwhich 1 are ore fully disclosed in a re p: teristiecurt Figs. 3 aud t. ticularlv' describing the characatures or theoperati've surface of the artificial plate, with-reference "to the platecorrea what is shown, namely, I spending to the lower teeth, the extremefront portion 11 is made withinclined'surfaces 12. extending forward anddownward, with respect to the the plate. -:Furthermore, the rear arms10, of theplate are curvcd laterally inward and downward and at. theintermediate portions 13, there t same b ,qcnera'l plane of into theforwardend -ofthe-Sid portions ll), of the plate; The inclinedportioniim down slightly below the level of the laterals I aredetermined y the curves of this plate and the natural lateral motion isgiven to the jaw in chewing, the'upper teeth will function withthe'lower teeth in the most effective manner to enable the grindingoperation to take place between all the bicuspids and molars on one sideand with out interlocking of the incisors or front teeth.

Where the artificial plates are to be em ployed in. the setting up ofdentures for hot the upper and lower sets 'of teeth, to

. be used together, there would be no restriction in providing propercurves to the surfaces of the lates; and in these cases, the mostscientilih manner of arranging the curves is resorted to, the same beingby duplicating the curves found in the grinding or ccclusal surfaces ofthe best specimens of natural teeth. This information has been obtainedby examining many skulls 'containing the best specimens of naturalteeth, and the character* of the curves so provided hasbeeri studied,and the law of averages drtw'mined. The curves so determined and plottedare duplicated in the operating surfaces of our improved artificialplate, the curves in said portions of the plate being made to correspondto the average curves aerived from-the curves taken from numerc-usexamples of actual teeth, as thus above stated. It will of the operativeor fies-posed surfaces of the plate containing curved portions is mostimportant, while the under surface is immaterial.

The forming of the plate of relatively thin metal is illustrated in thedrawings, though we do not confine ourselves to any particular shape forthe under surfaces, nor to any particular manner of attaching thesaigplate to the built up form or foundation up which it sets. That thepurpose of providing this described curvature to the artificial plateand then setting the teeth to correspond to, the said curvature, may be'readily, understood, the following'explanaion is given: When thenatural teeth of 0th jaws are all present, and their osition" isperfect, portions of teeth "of J 0th sides of t'he jaw are in contact atthe same time during the act of 'masticating or chew- ,ing; that 1s,,i;a;1nbrsel'of food is between .the back teeth" of the right side, thelower aw is thrown ,to the right before it combe understood that theshape mences the grinding motion, and it grinds the food by first comingup into contact with the upper teeth and then sliding back to the middleposition. At the same time,

the back teeth of the other side of the mouth,

-be done only by setting the grinding surfaces of the teeth to have thesame inclinations that had been present in the natural teeth. As thisinclination varies with each tooth, there has been a great deal ofdifliculty in properly positioning artificial teeth in the rubber plateto insure their'proper functioning, in use. The present methods in .useinvolve a great deal of trouble and expenditure of time to determine theposition to be given to each of the artificial teeth, and frequently thesetting is unsatisfactory because of 'the failure of correctness in suchpositioning.

Our improved artificial plate is intended to obviate these difiieultiesto the present methods of of our plate is to serve two main purposes,namely: The outer boundary, when the plate is looked upon from above,determines the outline to which the teeth should be set so that theouter edges of the teeth in each case just come to the edge of theplate. The different curves in the plate surface represent the difierentinclinations of the grinding surfaces of the teeth to secure the verybest results by the patient! If the upper teeth are set so that allocclusal or grinding parts of the teeth touch the plate, the teeth willhe in proper position to give the patient the very best possibleservice. In practice, artificial plates of this character will beprovided in various sizes for the dentist and from which he may selectas occasion may require, to fit jaws of different sizes. In those caseswhere the teeth remaining in the patients head are of such character asto prevent the use.of the plate unchanged, the plate may be modified orshaped by bending or filing as may be necessary to overcome anyparticular specificdifiiculty which may arise. Moreover, it is evident,that while our improved artipositioning teeth and the object ficialplate is more accurate in defining the L in new sets are bestarrangements of artificial teeth plates,' where both upper and lower tobe made for the plate, namely, that ofthe lower ,jaw as shown in thedrawing, would suffice for both sets, because if the upper set were madesame patient, a single in U form and thin,

to conform to this plate, the lower set may be subsequently made tofunction prop.- l erly with the upper set previously built, and in thisway a single artificial plate of our invention may he sufficient in preparing both sets of teeth. If, however. only an upper set of teeth isrequired. then the artificial plate corresponding to the grind- I ing oroeclusal surfaces of the teeth of the lower jaw should he provided foruse on? the articulator; and likewise. when the lower t teeth are to hemade then an articulatorf plate of our invention ma he provided tocorrespond tothe. grinding or occlusal surfaces of the teeth of theupper jaw. in these latter cases, however. should the naturalpredetcrmintal and most desirahte curvatures found as herein stated. notproperly conform to the remaining teeth in the paticnfs jaws. then themetal should he tnoditied as to its curved surfaces to enahle a set. ofartificial teeth to he produced to prop erl y 'fuu ti-h with theseremaining in thel patients mouth. whatever the ondition of] these teethmay he. While we have shown our improved plate hecause it is lighter andmore easil hent when necessary in adapting it for use. it will heevident that this particular renun'al of the metal in the middle 5 partis a matter of imm.-iterialit when coul sidering the in\ention in itshroadest cnsc. and while we prefer the construction of the plate shown,we do not restrict ourselves to the minor details thereof. as these mayhe modified without departing from the spiritll l of the invention.

in this applica ion we do not. claim the nu-thed" of setting, updentures in an al" ticulat r, as that will form suhject matter; of aseparate application. a division of this appli ation.

Having now descrihed our invention.what. we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters latent. is: I

l. .\n artitici .1 plate for use in setting up dentures, having, a hodyproviding an operative surface upon which the teeth of the denture areto he set up and by which they are tnisitioncd vertically and ininclination. said surface made with curvatures forming undulations lyingin vertical planes and also providing inclined surfaces to horizontalplanes. which are inverse or complementary to the curvaturcs andinclinations to he given to the oct-lusal or grinding surfaces and edgesof the teeth of the completed denture or set of teeth thus hein; set up.

2. An artificial plate for use in setting up dentures. having a hotlyprovided with an operative surface upon which the teeth of the dentureto he made are to he set up and hy which they are positioned vertically,said surface made with curvatures talten from the a verag 'e curvesderived from curves of the occlIn-al or grinding surfaces of a pluralityof ditl'ercnt jaws.

.n artiti ial plate for use in setting up dentures. consisting of aplate of hard material and said plate shaped to present curved portionsdisposed over its surface to correspond to the points or cusps of theoct Iusal or grinding surfaces of the artificial set of teeth to heproduced as the result of setting up the denture upon the said plate. 4..\n artificial plate for use in setting up dentures. consisting of aplate of hard material and said plate shapedtopresentcurved pertionsdisposed over its surface to corregpolttl to the points or cusps of theocclusal or grindine sulfaccsv of the artificial set of teeth to heproduced as the result of setting up the denture upon the saidplate,comhined with an articulator havine a foundation upon which the.artiticial plate is attached.

In testimony of which invention, we hereunto set our hands.

GEORGE \\'()()l) CLAPI. ERVIN b. ULS \VElt. Witnesses:

.-\.\.\".\ lluauxs.

\V. F. Davis.

